This invention relates generally to processes for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuits.
In some instances during the manufacturing process, a semiconductor integrated circuit may have two exposed surface regions. The two surface regions may have different characteristics. It may be desirable to form materials onto one of the regions and not the other of them.
Typically, providing a selective coating on a substrate involves depositing a polymeric coating on the entire substrate and selectively removing the polymeric coating, using standard lithographic and etching patterning, from the regions where the coating is not desired. However, these techniques require tight alignment to leave the coating only on the desired portions of the substrate.
Thus, there is a need for better ways to selectively form materials on semiconductor structures.